Premotor Cortex: A New Target for Stroke Motor Rehabilitation

Recruiting

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

Motor training only (pilot participants): - Have the ability to give informed, written consent - Be aged 18-80 years old - Be right-handed using the Edinburgh handedness inventory - Have intact cognitive abilities (score higher than 75th percentile on the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS)) - No current depression (score less than 7 on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS)) - No neurological disease - No contradictions to Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) - TMS over the extensor carpi ulnaris (ECU) hotspot must evoke a motor evoked potential (MEP) in the ECU muscle - MEP amplitude must increase by at least 20% as the TMS intensity increases - The subjects must be comfortable when receiving TMS of all strengths. Remaining study participants: - Have the ability to give informed, written consent - Be aged 55-80 years old - Be right-handed using the Edinburgh handedness inventory - Have intact cognitive abilities (score higher than 75th percentile on the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS)) - No current depression (score less than a 7 on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS)) - No neurological disease - No contradictions to Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) - TMS over the extensor carpi ulnaris (ECU) hotspot must be able to evoke a motor evoked potential (MEP) in the ECU muscle - MEP amplitude must increase by at least 20% as the TMS intensity increases - The subjects must be comfortable when receiving TMS of all strengths.

Exclusion Criteria

- Impaired cognitive abilities (score lesser than 75th percentile on the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS)) - Current depression (score more than 7 on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS)) - Neurological disease - Has a contradiction to TMS - MEP cannot be evoked with TMS in the ECU muscle - Inability to tolerate one or more TMS strengths

Professionals

Education

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This project is supported in part by the NIH Specialized Programs of Translational Research in Acute Stroke (SPOTRIAS) Network, and NINDS grant 3P50NS055977 to Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine and UT Southwestern Medical Center.